EPO Official fees to increase on 1 April 2020

The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced an increase in the official fees charged for European patent applications which will take effect from 1 April 2020. This is the first significant fee increase in four years, as the EPO did not apply its usual biannual fee increase in 2018.

The majority of the official fees are increasing by approximately 4%, but there are some notable exceptions. The excess page fee due on filing, currently 15 Euro per page over 35, is increasing to 16 Euro, which will increase the filing costs for longer applications. The official fee for obtaining a certified copy of a priority document or granted patent is more than doubling from 50 to 105 Euro. Finally, the standard appeal fee (as payable by the majority of appellants) is increasing by 450 Euro to 2705 Euro.

Dehns will endeavour to pay any relevant official fees at the current rates provided we receive your instructions in good time before 1 April 2020.

If you require any advice on how the new fees will affect your applications, please contact us.